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Grigori (V)
Grigori (V) requires 40 Energy to fight and is a random encounter appearing in Against the King. Deck List The enemy's deck has: (See Enemy Deck for more information) Alphabetical Table Transcript Introduction Grigori, the Abyssal Chef, hummed as he continued to clean his kitchen's long butcher block. Creating Blood Shades was an extraordinary undertaking, one that required a healthy investment of time and no small amount of mess. Once the ceremony had been completed, the old man had spent several hours cleaning up the blood, meat, and bones left around the area before they turned foul and attracted vermin. He may be a monster, but he was not an animal. He scrubbed at a particularly stubborn bloodstain, still humming, and smiled faintly. He enjoyed the ritual activity of cleaning; it calmed and centered him, particularly after he lost himself in something as intense as crafting seven Blood Shades. The shades themselves had been tasked with several high-profile assassinations, as the Dark Lords of the Abyss had commanded him to do. As was often the case, Grigori found himself spreading despair and chaos through West Kruna by carrying out his gods' orders; provided the Blood Shades were able to take out their targets, there would quite a bit of that to go around in the coming days. With the commander, the general, and the field marshal, Grigori had no doubts about his pets' success. The priest, though, had proven a canny target in the past -- which was why he'd sent an extra shade after her. Still, all of his pets should be back by morning, ready to help the cook spread a new age of darkness out across the kingdom. Suddenly, Grigori felt a surge of magical energy and a presence in the room. One of the Blood Shades must have finished its assignment early. He smiled broadly and flipped the rag over his shoulder. "Well, well, well." His voice was full of delight and approval, much like a father would speak to a child who came home with a prize, as he started to turn around. "What a pleasant start to the -- ah." Grigori's smile vanished and his expression went sober as he took in the sight of General Rothbert standing in the middle of the kitchen, the after-image from the Tempus Talisman's magic fading away. Unsurprisingly, the general looked less-than-pleased. "General!" Grigori spread his arms wide and the smile returned. "What an unexpected treat! You're looking so... so..." "Alive." To call Rothbert's tone cool was an insult; the frozen wastes of the north wished they were that cold. "Yes, I can imagine that would come as a bit of a shock." Grigori's grin faded to a smirk. He shrugged, and his pupils began to expand. Within seconds, his eyes were solid black and the color was draining from his skin. "I always wondered what kind of devil I was getting into bed with." Rothbert's voice was still the embodiment of icy hatred. "Now I know." Grigori cocked his head to the side and grinned as he reached up to take down a cleaver hanging from a hook. The smile exposed multiple rows of triangular shark's teeth. "No point in pretending otherwise now." Rothbert flexed the fingers of the strange armored gauntlet he wore, and a wicked-looking serrated blade extended out from the top of his armored hand. "No. I supposed there isn't." Conclusion Rothbert leaned against the edge of one of the counters, bathed in sweat and breathing heavily. He gingerly reached down to his side and touched the handle of the small knife sticking between his ribs. Such a tiny blade shouldn't be capable of causing so much pain, but Rothbert suspected the physical darkness leaking from of the wound -- like smoke -- probably had something to do with it. The old warhorse screamed as he grabbed the handle, wrenched it out, and flung it away. Gore spigoted from the wound, and he knew something was wrong: Blood wasn't supposed to be that dark or viscous. After all, he’d been around enough of it over the years. A hacking sound pulled his attention back over to the ruin that used to be Grigori. Rothbert stared at the chef with irritated disgust. "Of course. There's no way you'd just have the good grace to die." Grigori's laugh sounded horrible, more like the death rattle of someone in the final stages of lung rot. Maybe he'd swallowed some teeth when Rothbert knocked them out. "You've still lost." The voice was hard to understand, but Rothbert was able to parse out the words if he listened carefully. "The Abyss is inside you now. It will reach and crush your heart in a matter of minutes. But the Abyss has blessed me with life eternal; I'll be right as rain within an hour." By now the words were already becoming clearer. Rothbert limped over and saw that his enemy's teeth were already growing back. "Well, that’s a shame." Rothbert grabbed a meat tenderizer and slammed it down on Grigori's face a few times for good measure. "Sorry, I just don't want you to interrupt me again. I don't take that from my officers, and I certainly won't tolerate it from the likes of you." The general reached into a pouch hanging off his belt, pulling out a sphere made from crystal and brass. "Your Blood Shades were certainly a surprise to wake up to, but I can't say I they were totally unexpected." Rothbert wound one half of the sphere clockwise, then set it down on the counter next to Grigori's head. "After all, I always knew something about you wasn't right." A wave of nausea and pain caused Rothbert to double over for a moment before he could continue. "Of course, any commander worth his salt knows to be prepared." He waved his hand, a little dismissively. "You know, keep your enemies close and all that." Grigori's neck was still broken, so he couldn't turn his head, but his eyes were glued to the sphere. It was ticking, like one of those clockwork timers the gnomes had given him last year to use in the kitchen. Tick. Rothbert smiled absently. "You know what I love about Master Ingenie? All I have to do is mention a problem to him and that wonderful brain of his will dwell on it until a solution presents itself." Grigori's fingers twitched and his hand began to slowly move up towards the sphere. Tick. "Just after you created those Blood Shades to eliminate Baron Medveh's genocidal court, I realized how dangerous they could be in the future. So I visited the gnome's workshop for tea one day, and I asked him how he would defeat supernatural shadows incapable of being harmed by physical weaponry. His answer was both brilliant and simple." Tick. The pain was unbearable now, but Rothbert gasped out three final words. "You weaponize light." Ding. Category:Against the King Category:Humans Category:Random Encounters